When I started to work on line, I didn't really know much about Affiliate marketing. In truth, I had never heard of Affiliate marketing. I had done some multi level marketing, and I still do for the products I continue to love. My only reservation was I didn't like to have in-home parties or lugging stuff along to meetings. Even though I enjoyed the products, I never got used to doing those in home parties. I sucked at it.

So when I heard about this new business model (new to me because I was not previously exposed) I was curious. I wanted to know more. The more I learned the more I liked it. I realized most of my friends and colleagues had the same questions I did. They would ask me what is it that you do again? Is it a MLM? Is it a scam? Is it real? How do you earn from it?

Well here is my attempt to explain and distinguish it for anyone curious or on the fence.

One of the fastest and easiest ways to get an online business up and running so you can earn recurrent income hands-free is by promoting affiliate products.

What are affiliate products?

These are products that other people own and that you simply promote. These can be actual, physical products — such as bicycles, cars, homes and so on. Or they can be digital Information Products — such as an eBook or a video course.

When you promote affiliate products, every time you make a sale you get a commission on that sale. In other words, when you lead a customer to the product owner’s website and that customer spends money to buy that product, you get some of that money.

Automatic Sales Commissions

How much of a sales commission do you get? It all depends on the product and the terms of the affiliate agreement, but it can be anywhere from 3 to 5 percent to up to 75 percent of the sale price or even more.

Regardless of the sales commission, the more customers you lead to the seller, the more money you are going to make. So there really is no limit to the amount of money you can make with affiliate marketing.

A Recurrent Profit Structure

This is a little bit like Multi-Level Marketing — or MLM — which is something some of you may already be familiar with. That’s when you sell other people’s products but you have to buy them yourself first. Examples include Amway, Mary Kay Cosmetics and tons of other business opportunities.

The difference between Affiliate marketing and MLM is that with affiliate marketing you don’t have to buy any products yourself. All you need to do is to lead customers to where they can buy the products themselves and you get paid.

As the affiliate marketer, you are sort of like a middle man. Another way to think about it is that you are part of the seller’s sales team or sales force who is promoting their product in exchange for a commission.

No Upfront Costs or Inventory Required

One of the biggest benefits of affiliate marketing is that there aren’t any upfront costs. There are no products to buy and warehouse and no inventory that you are responsible for.

You don’t have to collect any money from customers or handle any actual products. You don’t have to provide customer support. You don’t need to have your own team of employees. Really, you don’t need anything except your own abilities and an internet connection and you can make a boat load of money with affiliate marketing.

Whenever Somebody Buys, You Get Paid

Literally all you have to do is to lead customers to where they can buy the products you are promoting and you can earn up to 75 or 80 percent of the sales price in many cases. That makes affiliate marketing an excellent, highly profitable business model.

So how much money can you expect to make with affiliate marketing? Well, the many web-based entrepreneurs who have affiliate marketing platforms in place right now are making six figures a year or more.

Super Affiliates

There are even a lot of super affiliates. These are people who have quit their full-time jobs and focus exclusively on affiliate marketing — and who are making more than a million per year with it.

It’s a great business model because of the opportunities created by the Internet. Remember that there are about 5 billion people on the planet and at least half of them — and closer to three-quarters — have access to the Internet. That means there is practically a bottomless supply of potential customers online at any given time.

Finding innovative new ways to connect with customers and promoting affiliate products that practically sell themselves is one of the fastest and easiest ways to build a recurrent, hands-free revenue stream that can earn you a substantial income over time.

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